Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Negative Social Proof Does NOT Work

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negative-social-proofWe’re all familiar with social proof. Techniques might include placing positive testimonials on your sales pages and websites to show what others think of our products. The idea is that by showing that other people like what you do, prospects will realize that they might like you, too. However, there is a form of social proof used by many marketers that actually backfires and causes sales to drop dramatically, and it’s what they call “negative” social proof. It works like this:
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Marketing Lessons from Billy Gibbons

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Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top
Photo by Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz (ZZ Top) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
What can Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top teach you about marketing? Maybe a lot.

Pat O’Bryan recently wrote about some lessons Billy taught him during a photo session. There were several good points, but the one that struck a nerve with me was near the end:

He’s…created a persona. The Billy we hung out with during the photo shoot was all business. No BS at all. But, when he’s being interviewed, Billy falls into character, and that character has been consistent for over 40 years.

Billy Gibbons has created a public Billy Gibbons who is not exactly the same as the private Billy Gibbons. He has built that public persona into a brand that is instantly identifiable.

Pat says that he may fall short in this area himself, that he is “the same guy all the time, whether it’s speaking to hundreds of people at a seminar or sharing a beer with my buddies at the American Legion Hall in Terlingua.” And that has, by his own admission, probably cost him money.

There is a lot of emphasis put on being real and being yourself, and that is important. But with a caveat. Your public face needs to be a revved-up version of yourself. [Read more…]

Pithy Marketing and Selling Sayings

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marketingLast week I found a list that I’d created on my iPad called: “10 Marketing Things You Already Know – But May Not be Acting Upon.”

These might fall into the category of “Pithy Sayings” that teach essential truths. I’m no Confucius, but I’ve been involved in marketing so long, that I can assure you, the following lessons are amongst the most important you can learn if you want to attract more of your ideal clients. [Read more…]

Building Trust with Your Customers with Case Studies

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This is a guest post from Dan Janal.

case-studyNearly every public relations campaign can be improved by using a case study.

A case study is a publicity tactic that shows how one or more of your clients have used your product or service and benefited from it.

Prospects love to be convinced by reading case studies because people love to read stories. A case study is simply a business story.

Like all stories, this free publicity strategy has a format you can easily follow. [Read more…]

The Terror of Asking

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This is a guest post from Robert Middleton, and it really resonated with me. I can empathize with Rose. When I started my business I had a very hard time asking. But unless you are able to ask–for the meeting, for the sale, for whatever you need–your business can not succeed. Read on to get insight into your terror of asking and start working toward your breakthrough.

Rose is a talented and determined consultant and coach who works with medical professionals to help them become more balanced in their work and their lives, overcoming stress and burnout so common to the medical profession.

She’s worked with a number of doctors who have completely transformed their practices, along with their degree of fulfillment and satisfaction as medical professionals.

When Rose came to me she had some good written marketing materials but her website needed a lot of work, and she needed to re-package her services to be more comprehensive.

I gave her directions to improve her website and packaging and before long she was presenting her business powerfully both though articles and on her website.

Rose had the kind of clients who were not easy to reach through networking or giving speaking engagements. She was getting calls from her website, but we determined that a good approach for her would be to call hospitals directly and talk to program directors, send her materials, and follow up for meetings.

With her impressive track record, Powerful message, quality materials, and numerous case studies, I felt that this would be an excellent way to connect with her prospects directly. And in the past she had been called by these same program directors who in turn referred her to their burned-out doctors.

And then she hit a wall. 
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